Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona – a Reflection on Forms and Structures

March 2017 was the first time I was able to experience the work of Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona. I need to admit that I was actually not prepared for the visit. While I have heard from other people about Gaudi, I didn’t know a lot about the person and his creations. Good or bad, but I had no expectations whatsoever.

When you stroll through Barcelona city center, it is hard to avoid Gaudi’s work. On the first day we walked on Passeig de Gràcia. I was already able to see two of his famous buildings from the outside: Casa Batlló and Casa Milà (aka La Pedrera). Both of them are worth visiting, especially the rooftops. We actually spent multiple hours in each of the two buildings. The attic of Casa Milà accommodates a museum dedicated to Gaudi’s work. If you can, take your time to explore the exhibits.

Honestly, what impressed me the most was Gaudi’s seamless integration of design and natural forms and structures . Ordinary equipment and functional structures are turned into pieces of art. And the natural way they interact with each other makes you want to explore more of his work. It must have been a privilege to live in such a truly inspiring environment.

1.Recommendation for your Barcelona visit

• Book your tickets in advance, all of the locations offer online ticket shops. Otherwise you risk queuing up for a long time and eventually even being turned away. Most of the locations have already set a limit to the number of visitors per a certain time period.
• Also make sure you use the audio guides each of the locations offers you. They provide interesting information about the creator and help you understand the meaning of the artwork.
• Especially relevant is to get there as early as you can. Or else the sheer number of tourists will spoil your experience. Try to be there at 09:00 AM, when they open for the public.

2.Behind the scenes of “Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona”

This visit to Barcelona allowed me to try out my Olympus OM-D E-M1. I had recently converted this camera to “Full Spectrum”. Read more about this type of conversion in my article The Infrared Photography Tutorial. Equipped with a broad range of filters, I could choose between visible light pictures and various types of infrared pictures.

In the end, this is how I mostly used my filters:

• The visible light filter for interior, color pictures
• The Deep B&W Infrared filter for exterior, black & white pictures

The primary reason for the Deep B&W filter was that the sky was usually cloudless. This creates a deep black in the background which contrasts nicely with the sun-lit objects.

Update June 2017

My partner Andrea wrote a detailed blog post on her site about our Barcelona visit (in German). It covers Barcelona from more angles and is definitely worth reading!